Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Creative Scrappers

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! For us it was filled with pool time, friends, family & a large cook-out!
Every year I think about  the men & women who have served & serve this wonderful country of ours & am so very grateful for all they do!

I wanted to share 2 layouts that I did for Creative Scrappers sketch challenge. The first one is from sketch #206.
 
And here is my layout:


I have been loving playing with the Story Teller collection from Crate Paper!
Yes, these pictures are from my daughter's birthday-2 1/2 years ago!! (I am seriously behind!)

The next sketch I did was #208:


And here is my take on this sketch:
This layout uses a mix of Crate Paper lines.  This is when my son turned three (again, almost 2 1/2 years ago)!   
I loved playing along with Creative Scrappers & hope to find time to try some more sketches from their blog!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Stephanie

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Bittersweet

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Today was a big day here. Ty graduated from pre-school! I am still finding it hard to believe. So I wanted to get my thoughts down & figured I'd join Stephanie Howell's Blog Your Heart rage & just simply blog about my feelings tonight.
We have spent the last eight years at CLC, the pre-school where both my children went. We have loved the teachers, aides & staff there. We have enjoyed all of the fun activities that were offered the children & the kids made many new & lasting friendships! So to say that we are sad that this era has ended would be an understatement. We were very fortunate to have such a solid foundation as this pre-school in our childrens lives. I will miss the people there, I will miss the fun parties & field trips & I will even miss driving through the carpool line every morning & afternoon! When you have done something for so many years, no matter how monotonous, you are bound to miss it in some way, right?!
But beyond that, I realize that my baby boy, my youngest, is growing up very quickly. I look at his older sister & it seems like she was just celebrating this same milestone not too long ago. Now she is looking at the end of her third grade year. It is all so fleeting & it makes me long to find a way to hold on a bit tighter &
 somehow make their childhood last a little bit longer. Each new milestone & event is exciting, don't get me wrong. I know Ty will love Kindergarten once he gets started. I am very excited for him & the new discoveries & friends he will make. It is just so bittersweet that this time has come so quickly. And that each passing year seems to scatter through our fingers before we have a chance to realize it. So I want with all of my heart to enjoy every single moment with my children this summer & make great memories that will last for years to come.
We are all so proud of Ty! He is an amazing little boy who is filled with kindness & love, compassion & understanding. He is curious but cautious; rambunctious but gentle; he is a good friend & a tenderheart.
He had a wonderful day today, but now, unfortunately is sick. We are hoping that this illness passes quickly so that he can resume being that  happy, easy-going five year old that we all love dearly!!!


Hope you all are well!
~Stephanie

Sunday, May 20, 2012

What's Going On?

So this is a crazy busy time of year for most people (end of school, birthdays, weddings, making summer plans, etc., etc., etc...) I am no exception!! These past few weeks have been hectic & (good) busy.

Ty has had many t-ball games & is loving the game! We are proud to say that with each game he learns more & becomes more focused. He is also the best behaved kid on the bench while in the dugout! (I know we are a tad bit biased!) But he sits still & pays attention to the game while others are playing in, & throwing dirt, or climbing the fence-you know the attention span of a typical 5 year-old. So we constantly tell him how proud he makes us & congratulate him for a game well played & good behavior.

Leah had her first SOL test last week, & though she was nervous, she felt like she did well. She also got her report card last week & once again, got striaght A's! We are so extremely proud of her & how well she has done this school year. She has an amazing teacher & I think she has made a world of difference in Leah's attitude toward school. Leah has also been busy working & doing chores to earn enough $ to buy a Kindle Fire. She reached her goal yesterday & we took her to the store so she could make her long sought after purchase. To say she was excited would be a huge understatement!! Hello screen time!

My dad turned 71 on May 12 & we had a family dinner for him at my sister's house. It's so hard to grasp the fact that my father is now over 70!! He had a great time & enjoyed all of us being together.

Ty had a Mother's Day picnic at his school & I was thrilled to be able to spend the day with him! The kids put on a puppet show for the parents & then we enjoyed a special lunch made by each child for their moms. On the menu was peanut butter & jelly sandwiches & fruit kabobs. The kids were all so proud of their culinary skills! It was definitely a special day.

Leah had field day at her school which is an event that she looks forward to all year! I was able to go for a bit in the morning & see the opening ceremonies & the highly anticipated "field day dance". Fortunately, it was not a miserably hot day, like it has been in the past, & the kids all had fun!


Needless to say, I haven't had much time to scrap but I did get a layout done for a skecth challenge at Let's Capture These Sketches. Unfortunately, I was too late in posting to enter my layout. Oh well-I'll try again this week.
Here is my layout:


And I am still using the April kit from My Scrapbook Nook! These kits are amazing!!! I can't wait to break into this month's.

I hope you all have a great Sunday!
~Stephanie


  

Thursday, May 17, 2012

MME Brad Challenge

This month's first challenge at the My Mind's Eye blog was to use their brads on a layout. Perfect, as I have lots of MME brads around here!!
I used a mix of their collections for this layout:



The black paper & the brads are from the Lost & Found Two collection; the yellow damask paper, gray stripe paper & floral rub-ons are from the Miss Caroline collection; the small blue alphas are from Lime Twist collection; and I used some label/date stickers from the Indie Chic collection! I love how simple it is to mix all of their collections, old & new!!

This picture is of Leah & her two girl cousins. All three of them are the only girl in their families, so I hope that they stay close as they grow together.

Thanks for peeking! Hope you all have a fabulous Thursday! (The Grey's Anatomy season finale looks like it's going to be a good one!!!) Enjoy : )
~Stephanie

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

New Find

I recently came across a new sketch challenge site on the web. I was so bummed when Sketchy Thursdays closed. I used to play along weekly with their sketches. Now I believe I have found a new love! It's called Let's Capture These Sketches. This is the first skecth of theirs that I have played along with, but it was a fun one & they have some really talented designers!
Here is this week's sketch:
 
And here is my layout:


 I used  the April kit from My Scrapbook Nook which contained all Crate Paper products from their Storyteller collection. I backed the photo with some corrugated cardboard & book paper & added a few rub-ons to the paper strips at the top of the page. Everything else is from the kit! It's amazing how much I can create each month using solely their kits!

I am so happy I stumbled on LCTS & can't wait to play along again!

Night all!
~Stephanie